Winter Olympics: Erin Hamlin Wins First U.S. Luge Medal; Shaun White Fourth in Halfpipe
American luger Erin Hamlin made U.S. Olympic history and Norway took the lead in overall medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.
Here's a recap of Tuesday's action in Sochi:
Hamlin Wins Bronze in Luge
While Germans Natalie Geisenberger and Tatjana Huefner respectively claimed the gold and silver medals in the women's luge on Tuesday night in Sochi, Hamlin slid into history by earning the bronze.
The third-place finish by Hamlin, of Remsen, N.Y., gave her the first Olympic medal ever awarded to a U.S. singles luger.
Geisenberger finished a convincing 1.139 seconds ahead of teammate Huefner, the 2010 Olympic gold medalist. The medals represent half of Germany's total in Sochi.
Shaun White Finishes Without Medal in Halfpipe
U.S. snowboarder Shaun White had the top score in the qualifying round of the halfpipe on Tuesday, but the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist fell in the finals and finished in fourth place.
Swiss boarder Iouri Podladtchikov seized the gold with Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka of Japan taking silver and bronze, respectively.
The finish by White, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, meant the Americans did not medal in the halfpipe for the first time since the event debuted in 1998 at Nagano, Japan.
Canadians Add Slopestyle Medals; American Takes Silver
Canada's Dara Howell completed a sparkling run — including a two-and-a-half rotation spin — to claim the gold medal in the skiing slopestyle competition at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Tuesday. Teammate Kim Lamarre captured the bronze to give Canada seven total medals in snowboarding and freestyle skiing events thus far at the Sochi Games.
American snowboarder Devin Logan, of Oceanside, Calif., took home silver. The 20-year-old Vermont native scored 85.40 to prevent a Canadian sweep of the event. Her medal was the Americans' third in the newly-added Olympic event.
Matt Lauer Replaces Bob Costas On NBC's Primetime Broadcast
American television viewers will see a different lead anchor on NBC's Winter Olympics broadcast on Tuesday night.
"Today" co-anchor Matt Lauer will fill in for the ailing Bob Costas, who has battling an eye infection since the start of the Sochi Games.
Costas soldiered through Monday's broadcasts, but NBC announced he'd step aside for Lauer with the hope of returning soon. Costas has hosted all of NBC's primetime Olympic coverage since 1988.
Medal Count
Norway surged ahead in the overall medal count thanks to Ola Vigen Hattestad's gold in the men's cross country skiing sprint and Maiken Caspersen Falla and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg taking the top two spots in the women's sprint. The U.S. was tied with Russia for fourth place with seven medals.
Norway (11)
4 gold; 3 silver; 4 bronze
Canada (9)
4 gold; 3 silver; 2 bronze
Netherlands (8)
3 gold; 2 silver; 3 bronze
United States (7)
2 gold; 1 silver; 4 bronze
Russia (7)
1 gold; 3 silver; 3 bronze
Sources: Sochi Winter Olympics and NBC Olympics
More From 98.7 WFGR
